Crashing back to earth, the dam burst and Charley could no longer hold her tears in check.
* * * *
Jake pressed a kiss to Charley’s forehead. “That’s it, Sweetheart. Let it out.”
One arm under her butt, he turned off the water then opened the shower and stepped out with Charley clinging to him. He bent and picked up the towels off the toilet lid and wrapped one around her.
The tears flowed, quietly, but they flowed. In the bedroom, Jake went to set Charley on the bed, but she wouldn’t release him. He smiled into her wet hair, caressed a hand over her back. Placing the extra towel on the bed covers, he sat, pulling Charley onto his lap with him. Using the towel he slung over her, he dried her as best he could.
“What did they do to you?” Even though he voiced the question aloud, he hadn’t expected an answer.
“They didn’t hurt me.” No, that was not quite true. There were no black and blue marks on her body, but there were some inside.
“Maybe not physically, but there are all kinds of hurt.”
Charley peered up at him, her topaz eyes glittering with unshed tears. “How do you understand that? Why are you so nice?”
“Because you let me have sex with you in your shower.” Jake grinned and planted a chaste kiss on her salty lips.
“Bend down,” he instructed so he could dry her golden mane.
With an outstretched arm, he tugged back the covers, slid them both up, and enfolded them in the cocoon of her paisley comforter.
“Jake.”
“Shh. We’ll talk tomorrow, Darlin’. For now, you sleep.”
Within minutes, Jake heard the rhythmic sound of Charley’s breathing. She was asleep. There would be plenty of talking to do tomorrow. Careful not to disturb his sleeping beauty, he reached below the side of the bed and assured himself that his weapon was right where it belonged. He would not get caught with his pants down again.
NINETEEN
She peeled his fingers away and slid out from under his heavy arm to the side of the expansive bed. Careful not to bounce the mattress, she hung one foot over the bed and waited a beat before pointing the other one in the same direction. Holding her breath, Charley slipped out from under the covers, closed her eyes and hoped Jake did not move.
Why was she slinking around like a criminal? Oh, that’s right. She wanted to avoid the conversation she knew would come. Later. Much later!
After grabbing a pair of black slacks, a red T-shirt, and a matching pair of panties, she tiptoed to the bedroom door. When she reached it, she glanced back at Jake. Somehow, he remained oblivious to her getaway. Yes, she thought, and gave herself a mental pat on the back.
At the bottom of the stairs, she slid into the clothes then went in search of coffee and breakfast food. Her cupboards were bare. The only sign of caffeine was a small jar of instant coffee and that was not an option.
In the living room, she shoved her feet into a pair of black flats and located her purse. With it slung over her shoulder, Charley turned to the front door and her SUV. She had not even made it to the front of the vehicle when she stopped short. Titling her head to the side, she confirmed her car sat lopsided in the driveway.
“Oh, no! Not a flat tire. You’re brand new,” she complained to the BMW, waving her hands.
When she noticed that not one of her tires were flat, but the two on the driver’s side, she turned back toward the house. “Great,” she muttered. She couldn’t even use the spare tire to fix it and get her on the road.
“Figures.” Charley kicked the dirt and stormed back into the house. “Now what?”
As a plan worked in her mind, Charley toed off her shoes, and without a sound except for the rickety third stair tread, she climbed the steps and went back to her bedroom and Mr. Sleeping Beauty.
Locating his jeans on his side of the bed, she squatted to check his pockets for his keys. The first pocket held his cell phone. Shoving that back in, she reached for his other pocket when a hard hand grasped her wrist.
Charley gasped and fell back on her butt.
Her gaze followed the length of the strong arm and stopped when it came to moss green eyes. In this case, she did not think green meant go. She dropped his drawers and smiled.
“Good morning.”
Without warning, Jake tugged her up and over, pinning her beneath his very naked body. A very hard, naked body!
“Looking for something, Shugar?”
“Caffeine.”
“In my jeans?” His brow lifted. “Not hardly.
“No. I wanted some coffee and breakfast. Apparently, I’ve been neglectful on my grocery shopping.”
Jake cleared his throat.
“Let me finish,” she said and kissed his nose. Why had she just done that? “My SUV has a flat tire. Actually, it has two flat tires. I thought I would borrow your jeep while you slept then come back and make you breakfast.” She smiled at him. “See. Simple.”
“There ain’t nothin’ simple about you.” Jake whispered the comment under his breath but Charley heard.
“Anyway, would you mind lending me your car?”
Uh-oh. The grin he gave her singed her, made her belly jump with anticipation. Her eyes went wide. He was hard. Ready.
“Mmm. I have a much better idea.” He nipped at her neck and stroked one of those talented thumbs across her breast making the nipple pop to attention.
The man was insatiable and yeah, she would love to play but being with him was too dangerous. She could easily fall in love with him, but she would not. It was safer if she kept her distance. The best thing to do would be to make him breakfast and very politely send him home.
The last thing she wanted was for Jake to end up like Kyle.
* * * *
Jake read the stiffening of her muscles, the faraway look that had nothing to do with sexual ecstasy. Charley’s mind was elsewhere. Maybe she needed caffeine. Maybe she needed distance. Either way, he would comply.
“I’ll make you a deal.” Jake ignored the wary look she gave him and continued. “You run to the market and I’ll take care of getting you two new tires.”
“I can’t. I mean I can arrange something when I’m in town.”
Damn it! He hated her guarded attitude. “Charley, I can get the tires off and waiting for new ones, hell, maybe have the new ones put on by the time you return to make me a full breakfast.”
He watched the hesitation touch the tip of her tongue and without giving her a chance to speak, he kissed her, thoroughly, drowning in the taste and feel of her.
Then Jake shoved himself off the bed and tugged Charley to her feet. With swift movement, he stepped into his boxers and jeans, fished in the pocket and pulled out the keys, tossed them to her. Jerking his shirt over his head, he went to thrust his feet into his shoes. When the right one met resistance, he had to decide. Did he let Charley see his weapon or hide it?
She cleared her throat and her foot tapped the floor next to him. “I know about the clutch piece, Jake.”
His head snapped up. “You do?”
She nodded. “Of course. I suspect most bodyguards carry them. I appreciate you trying not to offend my sensibilities by keeping it tucked away but you already know I have a weapon so it’s no biggie.”
Jake shrugged, reached down, pulled the gun out of his shoe, and strapped it to his ankle. When he stood back up, he caught her gaze staring at his ass. She grinned and licked her lips.
“You have a seriously nice butt in a pair of jeans.”
He coughed out a laugh. “Uh, thanks.”
“Come on. I’m beginning to think I need that caffeine.”
Charley chuckled and led the way out to her SUV, stopping to slip on her shoes as they went.
“Go ahead. I can manage. You go get food.”
“You sure you won’t need my help?”
Jake eyed her. “Git,” he said waving his hand for her to move.
She snapped him a salute, spun on her heels and jogged over to his j
eep.
He waved as she drove off then went to examine her tires.
“I’ll be damned.”
A KA-BAR stuck out of her driver side rear tire. A damn military knife. A calling card or a mistake? What the hell? Had someone been out here the other night? Was someone stalking her, taunting her? Why?
“Well, shit.”
As he stalked his way over to his garage, Jake called Al’s Autos. When Al answered, he identified himself and told Al what he needed.
“No problem, buddy. When do you want them?”
“How soon can you get them here?”
“Oh, hm, an hour? It may be sooner if I can get someone to cover for me and drive them out there myself.”
“Whatever way works. Al, make that four tires.”
“Four?”
“Yeah, just in case.” Something told Jake this could be a recurring theme.
“I’m on my way.”
Jake shut his phone then went in search of a crowbar and jack.
TWENTY
Charley rounded the corner and a black truck sideswiped her, sending the Jeep skidding on the dirt road. “What the heck?”
She grabbed the rollover bar for support and slowed only to be rammed again. In her side mirror, she looked for the other driver and tried to get a license plate number. Too much dirt flew all around and fuzzied any view. She coughed and spit. Blood. She must have bit her tongue.
With a death grip on the wheel and her heart racing, Charley waited for the next blow. It did not come.
“Oh, thank goodness.” She righted Jake’s Jeep and kept driving.
Two seconds later, someone slammed into the bumper and it went sailing down the embankment.
“Think, Charley.” Evasive maneuvers. What were they?
Head muddled, she jerked the wheel and the car spun around one hundred and eighty degrees. That did not seem to bother the other driver because he hit her head on. Her neck snapped back and her skull made contact with the headrest then bounced back causing her forehead to strike the steering wheel.
“Please, please.”
Charley looked up and her gaze locked with the gray-eyed driver before metal banged against metal and she careened over the edge of the road. As the Jeep pitched forward, the seatbelt cut off her circulation and interfered with her breathing. She struggled to get the webbing unhooked. Pleaded for the material to give and fought the blackness that swam in her eyes.
“Not like this. Please, not like this.”
The Jeep shifted and she heard trees crack and the next thing Charley knew, she tumbled down, over, and down again. Then black.
* * * *
By the time he had the car up and the tires off, Jake was sweating. Wanting to preserve whatever fingerprints might be on the KA-BAR, he went back inside Charley’s house, located a plastic baggie then secured the knife inside it. He had just hidden it under the front seat when he heard Al’s truck coming down the road. He flagged him into Charley’s drive.
Seeing the two flats lying on the ground, Al whistled between his teeth as he stepped out of his vehicle. “What a shame. What did that mess?”
“Not sure,” he lied with ease.
“No problem,” Al told him as he lugged two tires out of the pickup bed with the strength of a body builder.
In silence, the two worked side-by-side and had both tires on in a matter of minutes. Just as Al hauled the destroyed tires away, an explosion rocked the ground under his feet. Looking up he saw a ball of orange and black rise above the tree line. Without thinking, Jake jumped into Charley’s BMW, started it up and slammed it into reverse.
“Come on!” He floored it and reached the accident about the same time Al did. When he glanced over his shoulder, his heart stopped beating and his breath caught. No! Jake shoved open the door, jumped out and ran down the hill toward his Jeep, toward Charley.
“Charley!” He listened for anything, a whimper, a twig. “Charley!”
Al started the search on the other side of the burning vehicle and hollered for her as well.
He heard it! His name. To his left. The sound was slight, but distinct.
“Charley! Come on, sweetheart, say my name again.”
There it was. Jake leapt over a fallen and smoking log and found her. His heart started beating again. She was alive! Head tilted back, he closed his eyes, and said, “Thank you.”
“For what,” she muttered.
Jake laughed and knelt beside her. “For you. Don’t move.” He stood and waved his arms. “I got her Al.”
He squatted down again and started palpating areas of Charley’s body looking for broken bones and bleeding. “Where do you hurt?”
“Who is Al?”
“I’m Al, little lady.” Al scrambled down next to them.
“He’s the mechanic that fixed your tires.”
Charley started to shift but Jake halted her movement. “Stop. Let’s make sure you’re in one piece before we move you.”
“Okay,” she mumbled. “My head hurts.”
Jake wrapped his hands around her head and touched her. He felt a bump.
“Can Al fix your car?”
He and Al looked over their shoulders at what remained of his yellow Jeep. Jake almost wept while Al shook his head.
“I’m pretty sure she’s a goner,” Al said.
“Oh.”
“Okay, sweetheart, wrap those skinny arms around my neck and let’s get you out of here.”
Jake scooped her up.
“Which hospital are you taking her to?”
“No!” Charley jerked and he held on tight.
What should he do? A doctor really should see her. One advantage of a small town was that businesses made house calls, including physicians. Glancing up, he caught Al’s gaze and he nodded. He would take care of the doctor.
“Stubborn as you are, I guess we’re going home.”
Charley snuggled her head against his shoulder as he made his way up the embankment over fallen and burning trees.
When they reached the SUV, he yanked open the back door and carefully slid her in, buckled her, and shut the door. “What about my—”
“Purse is right here, ma’am.” Al handed it to him and Jake tossed it onto the passenger seat before sliding in behind the steering wheel.
Al slapped a hand on the car door. “I’ll get Doc Maines there ASAP.”
“Appreciate it, Al.”
“I’ll also get one of my trucks out here to tow the Jeep.”
“Appreciate that too, everything.”
“Not necessary. Just take care of your lady.”
His lady? Is that what Charley was? Al walked off and Jake turned around to go home and play nursemaid.
TWENTY-ONE
Doc Maines, an older general practitioner who wore a bow tie, treated her cuts and bruises and gave her a clean bill of health. His only instruction was to rest. So there she sat, tucked up in her own bed. Alone. Not entirely alone.
She could hear Jake slamming cupboard doors, banging pots and pans, and running water. He was making their long awaited, now late afternoon breakfast. Not with the eggs she picked up at the supermarket. Nope, those eggs were scrambled all over what was left of Jake’s Jeep and the woods. While the doc checked her out, Jake apparently went back to his place and picked up the breakfast provisions.
In the meantime, Charley sat in bed and tried to reconstruct the event that led to her being upside down inside Jake’s Jeep surrounded by a forest of trees. If she had not remembered the Swiss Army knife tucked inside her handbag’s zipper pocket that Waldo gave her for Christmas, she would still be stuck inside the car. She would be charred and dead.
“Thank you, Waldo.”
Who ran her off the side of the road? Why? She needed to get up and move. She did her best thinking in motion or in front of her computer. Shoving the covers aside, she planted her feet on the floor and stood. The dizziness only lasted for a second and then her head cleared and she walked. She walked softly, not
pounding as she did when she normally paced because the hard thump of her feet against the floor caused her head to throb and ache.
Did the driver think Jake drove the Jeep when he rammed it? Charley shook her head and regretted it. Sharp, needles of pain shot up her neck and she grabbed at it and rubbed.
“Why would someone want to hurt him?”
“Who?”
Startled, Charley spun around and wobbled. Jake caught her.
“You.”
“Get back in bed. I brought breakfast to you.” He indicated the tray he brought up that held two plates and mugs. Oh. With his hand under her arm, Jake helped her back into bed, handed her a plate and set the mugs on the night table. He took the other dish of food and sat across from her on the bed.
“Why do you think someone tried to hurt me?”
Charley swallowed the bite of eggs laced with Tobasco sauce. “I was driving your Jeep.”
Jake nodded. “Makes sense,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. “But doesn’t it seem more likely that whoever ran you off the road ran you off?” He set the mug back down. “Think about it. First, you have two flat tires. By the way, the tires were slashed.”
Charley sucked in air and bacon and choked. Jake took her plate and slapped at her back until she spit up the pig meat and could breathe again.
“Slashed?”
“Drink some coffee,” he suggested. “I didn’t figure you realized that this morning otherwise you would have been jumpy and nervous. Instead, you were frustrated.”
“No, I didn’t realize it. Are you certain?”
“Kind of hard to miss when the culprit left his calling card.”
Calling card? Her mind raced and turned to the photo she found of Kyle. That kind of calling card? Who? She swallowed the fear and spoke. “What?”
Jake rose from the bed, taking his plate with him and walked to the dresser. When he returned, he brought with him a plastic bag that he laid out in front of her. “Yours?”
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